Parents are willing to spend money to protect their kids against potential dangers, but this can be costly. Thankfully, there’s Ginelle Mills’ five-in-one kid’s tool, Cool Wazoo. It’s used as a car shade, changing pad, and a cover for highchairs, swings, and shopping carts. Ginelle scored a deal on Shark Tank with Lori Greiner but it didn’t close. Cool Wazoo was worth $1 million at its peak but shutdown in 2020.
Ginelle Mills’ Background
Ginelle Mills is a resident of Walnut Creek, California. After graduating from Athens High School, she got a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration and a master’s degree in sports administration at Ohio University.
In 1998, she was a project director at Frost & Sullivan and later worked as a global project director at Red Sheriff. In 2008, she founded Cheerful Child, a product development firm.
The Inspiration behind Cool Wazoo
Ginelle is a mother of three, and one day she took her daughter to a park swing. However, the heat of the metal swing gave her kid a burn. As a result, Ginelle tried to find a product that would help with this but failed.
The California mom took matters into her own hands with her company, Cheerful Child. While developing the product, she noticed that her bag was filled with too many kid accessories.
Thus, she made a multi-purpose changing pad and baby play mat. In 2009, her husband kindly invested $100,000 to get the business off the ground, and Cool Wazoo earned $20,000 the following year.
An emotional pitch that won Lori over
The startup gained exposure on TV shows like The Doctors and Today Show in 2012. However, it didn’t drive enough revenue to improve manufacturing. With this, she appeared on season 4 of Shark Tank, offering $65,000 in return for a 25% equity stake.
The Sharks were quite curious and asked a lot of questions. They were critical because the entrepreneur’s profit margins were too low, and suffered with inventory issues.
Because of the Shark’s comments, Ginelle got emotional. When the Sharks backed out, she continued to pitch her business. This touched Lori Greiner, and the Shark with a heart agreed to invest $65,000 for 25%. Exactly what she was looking for!
Cool Wazoo Still Going Strong After Shark Tank
Unfortunately, the deal with Lori never closed according to Sharktankblog.com. Thankfully, Ginelle got licensing agreements with Babies R Us and Kids 2, Inc. Cool Wazoo isn’t active on social media but the product is still available to buy on TheCoolWazoo.com and at several Toys R Us locations. Currently, the product is out of stock on Amazon.
Under Cheerful Child, LLC she released new products such as Blew Bubble and Ginovate. In March 2020, she started a virtual baby party service but it didn’t gain traction. It appears Ginelle has licensed the product and is now a stay-at-home mom. According to her LinkedIn profile, she stopped working on Cheerful Child in 2016.
On Amazon, Cool Wazoo had a star rating of 3.4 from 23 customers. Positive reviews referenced the design and negative reviews highlighted the product being too expensive. Cool Wazoo closed down in 2020 as the margins were too tight and persistent inventory issues. Without Lori’s backing, Cool Wazoo lost the boost it needed to scale.
